Today I wanted to share my art journal so far for 2017. I started with a brand new art journal. When I bought this art journal the owner of the store asked me if I had worked with square art journals before. I told her I had not. She said, “You’re going to love it!”

This year (so far) I have been somewhat obsessed with layering paper and collage to create my pages. All of them are done with that technique.

I wanted to share my pages as inspiration for you. I did a video flip through that you can watch and/or you can check out the pages below and I’ll explain how I created them.

Here’s the video flip through:

Part of the reason I’ve been so inspired by paper layering this year, I think, is because at the beginning of the year I went through all of my art supplies. I donated a lot of things that I knew I wouldn’t use. That left me with only things I really, really loved.

I have been hoarding lots of different vintage ephemera and lots of little pieces of scrapbook paper that I love. When I was cleaning out stuff I got everything organized in the way I actually use them.

Also having less to look through and make decisions about is really helpful. I highly recommend a clean up/purging of any kind of craft supplies every so often.

It helps you see and remember all the stuff you already have. Sometimes you completely forget about things. You’ll be re-inspired by all the stuff you decide to keep.

Having less means having fewer decisions to make. I don’t have to decide between as many different things anymore. Having fewer choices is actually really helpful for creativity.

My Art Journal Pages so Far:

You’ll see this technique throughout my art journal: watercolor background and layered paper on top. I also like making lists and adding that to my pages as well. Sometimes the list will almost be poem-like, and sometimes it’s more of “what I’m doing right now” list.

The green ad on the right side is actually a reproduction that I got in a scrapbook or art journal kit.

Mirror selfie. It didn’t print properly because I was running out of ink, but I thought it looked cool on this page.

Here I started getting into more interactive pages. The file folder opens up. I actually used it because I wanted to keep the journaling more private (which is why some of it is blurred out in the photo.)

This is a mini Word of the Year vision board I created for the Word of the Year Talisman Workshop. (You can get that workshop here.)

On the left side I wrote in pen and then used matte medium to attach tissue paper over it. Layered on top are a heart and the word love that I painted on watercolor paper and cut out. On the right side it’s just a collage of mostly magazine images and words cut out and a photo I took.

Materials:

Pen

Tissue paper

Watercolor paper and watercolors

Magazine cut outs

Photograph (I took the sunflower photo in the upper right corner.)

This is another interactive page and is my favorite so far! I have a collection of correspondence from the 1920s, which I’ve been holding on to for years. I’ve used little bits of it here and there. I don’t know the person and I don’t have any actual personal connection, but the letters are sweet and so fascinating. I only have one side of the story, however.

The envelop on the right side actually contains the letter in it. It’s ripped on the right side, so the letter can be pulled out.

Materials:

Watercolor

Gel pens for all the doodling, as well as a white colored pencil

Various little pieces of scrapbook paper

Part of the green receipt that I’ve used on other pages in this journal

Letter from the 1920s

The negative from punching out a butterfly

A cute little sticker from a vintage photo

On this page I have used fabric and I have a great technique for adding fabric to art journals (or for scrapbooking or for cards) that I teach in the introduction of Inspired eCourse.

Materials:

Watercolors

Old sheet music

Mirror selfie photo

Piece of a map from an old atlas

Cut out from an old art book (that’s what’s on top on the left side)

Fabric (with the birds and bird cages)

Part of my jeans that tore

Tag

This page is also interactive. The left side has a pocket that holds a tag that you can pull out. The tag has journaling on it. On this particular day I wrote all the small miracles that happened. (Once you start looking for them, they happen all the time!)

Materials:

Pattern paper (from a clothes pattern)

Scrapbook paper

Various pieces from cut apart scrapbook paper

Tag

I hope this was inspiring for you!

Do you want to feel inspired and design your own jewelry based on art journal pages that you create with prompts?

The introduction is all about getting started art journaling and I also have some fun techniques for you.

Each week you’ll get a creativity activity and art journal prompt, create an art journal page and then I’ll show you a map to go from art journal page to inspired jewelry piece. You’ll be designing your own jewelry, but I also have a jewelry project each week to inspire you, give you techniques or you can make it if you’re feeling stuck.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase I get a small percentage – at no extra cost to you! Anything I recommend I have actually used myself and love!

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